The group of adventurers arrived at the gates of the dungeon sooner than they expected, they were propelled forward by the steep descent. The grooves carved into the obsidian tiles provided poor traction and for most of the descent they found themselves sliding forward on the seat of their pants. They were unable to slow themselves and careened to the lower level uncontrollably. The walls of the tunnels wooshed by in a blur, each adventurer flailing to slow their wobbling freefall into the darkness.

Sampson was the first to reach the bottom, he found himself thrown against one of the giant iron dungeon doors, Lexi crashed into his side followed by West and then Charlie. They bumped into each other and bounced apart like bumper cars at a harvest season fair.

Charlie picked himself up and brushed off his trousers. "Well that was an exciting ride." He said to the others.

"This journey so far has been an exciting ride," Lexi answered him. All four of them stood to examine the looming doors in front of them.

" these look ominous," Sampson touched one of doors and tried not to imagine what might wait for them on the other side.

" Solid Iron," West said, examining the doors. " and more scripts."

West traced the words with his forefinger, "The basalt dwellers were here too"

Lexi approached the door to see the script. "It's beautiful," She said observing the long thin flourishes, the looping exotic letters, the delicate embellishment.

"What does it say?"

"If I'm interpreting it correctly it says " Ahead lies a dark and dreaded place where dark magic lives, where the demented and the dim cannot defeat the dead. If you choose to enter great danger awaits you, but also reward."

The group stood in silence. Sampson leaned against one of the dungeon doors. The door creaked on rusted hinges moving ever so slightly inward. A wet hot heat escaped from beyond the doors, Sampson felt the stickiness collect on his skin. To him it felt like a summer day in Florida just before a thunderstorm. Humid. He hated humid environments.

" Do you feel that, " he said to the others. The air is thick behind this door," Sampson said, brushing the sweat that formed on his brow.

Charlie pushed the door, but it barely moved. He was immediately struck by the smell of wet earth and decaying organic matter. The air that seeped through the opening was thick and musty. Somewhere inside he smelled the distinctive odor of hot springs, a unique mix of sulfuric acid and pungent minerals. It was strangely metallic. Beyond the opening he heard the sound of footsteps and the dripping of water.

"I think there is something or someone on the other side of these doors," Charlie blurted out.

"I'm not so sure I want to continue," Lexi said," maybe if we go back up we can access a different level."

"Do you think you can climb the ramp without tumbling back down here?" Sampson quizzed. "Remember we could barely slow ourselves down before hitting these doors."

Lexi looked at her surroundings with trepidation. She knew the only way was forward, she just didn't like the idea of it.

Once again West's group was finding reasons to disagree. Humans, do they always have to be like this? he asked himself.

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The game prompt interrupted West's thoughts.

HELLO ADVENTURERS YOU HAVE REACH LEVEL 3. THE DUNGEON OF DARKNESS. THIS IS THE FIRST AND EASIEST OF THE REMAINING 42 LEVELS.

BECAUSE YOU HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR WITHOUT REGENERATION I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE ONE OF YOU A GAME BONUS. KEEP IN MIND THIS WILL NOT OCCUR AT AT REGULAR INTERVALS. IN FACT IT MAY NOT OCCUR AGAIN.

SAMPSON DE BOUVIER, AS CLERIC TO THE RULE MAKER YOU WILL RECEIVE A CONCEALMENT SPELL, THIS SPELL WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONCEAL YOUR ENTIRE TEAM ONCE DURING THIS LEVEL. HOWEVER YOU WILL NOTICE A REDUCTION IN STRENGTH BY 2 AFTER USING THE SPELL. USE YOUR BONUS WISELY.

Charlie and Lexi looked at each other bewildered by the game's decision. " Maybe it's a trick, maybe the game is trying to pit us against each other?" Lexi whispered to Charlie.

"Why would it do that?"

"It happened to me in the snow field, I wasn't given the correct information about the spiders," She continued.

The prompt spoke again.

I DO NOT WITHHOLD INFORMATION. I DO NOT CAUSE CONFLICT AMONG THE PLAYERS. THERE IS NO PLACE FOR BLAME HERE, YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN GAMEPLAY.

NOW….ENTER THE DUNGEON AND CONTINUE TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

MAY FORTUNE FIND YOU

RULE MAKER 1

Lexi gritted her teeth, hearing the system chastise her. She knew what happened in the fields and it nearly killed her. Now Sampson has been given a bonus, but her and Charlie received nothing. It seemed like favoritism to her.

"You heard the game prompt team, let's get a move on," Lexi heard West encourage the group.

The players stood before the towering iron dungeon doors. The doors looked centuries old. The iron buckled and rusted under the weight of time, coarse grooves were etched into the surface of each door from years of use. A crack between the doors was barely wide enough for each adventure to pass through.

Sampson went first being the leanest of the three, when he emerged on the other side he was overcome by the heat and humidity of the dungeon. The room was dimly lit by torches lining the walls and casting an eerie green glow. The ground beneath his feet was made of the same tile he encountered in the tunnel leading to this dungeon. From where he was standing he could make out a large circular chamber directly ahead of him and several corridors radiating outward from the edge of the chamber.

Lexi emerged next, she retreated briefly after feeling the heat but then forced herself to join Sampson. She stood next to him listening to the sounds of the chamber. Dripping water, and strange footsteps. She looked at the walls and floors of the chamber and could see that they were made of thick slabs of obsidian. In some places thick patches of moss clung to the stone walls.

Charlie pushed his way through the doors and immediately winced at the smell of acid and decay. Through the eerie torchlight he could see bones littering the farside of the chamber and what looked like the weapons of fallen warriors.

When West arrived he found the three players huddled together, contemplating their next move.

They informed West they were ready to explore the center of the chamber. Charlie mentioned he thought he saw something glittering on the far side of the chamber.

"It looked like a jewel relic, but it is too far away for me to really see," Charlie explained.

"I saw it too," Lexi and Sampson chimed in at the same time.

The players cautiously explored the depths of the dungeon, they followed a narrow corridor that opened up into another room. The room was lit with the same green torchlight. Each wall was covered with hundreds of tiny holes that created decorative patterns. Under a torch on the opposite wall sat an open chest. Inside the chest were thousands of opalescent discs. West recognized them as diamond coins. Suddenly Charlie came to a stop and raised his hand in a manner that indicated to the others not to come any closer. In the middle of the floor was a slightly raised tile that looked suspiciously different from the rest of the flooring. Charlie recognized it as a pressure plate. Something he'd seen in the endless video games he played with his nephew.

It was clearly designed to trigger a trap, but he couldn't determine what kind of trap. He signaled to the others to wait while he carefully inspected the tile and its surrounding area. After a few moments of examination, Charlie noticed a small hole in the center of the pressure plate. This was the trigger mechanism for the trap.

Charlie carefully applied pressure to the hole and waited. A loud churning noise filled the room, and the floor began to shake. Charlie realized that he had triggered the trap

"Try to find cover everyone," He yelled.

Lexi, Sampson and West ran toward the opening of the corridor, Charlie was not far behind.

The flooring of the room started to give way, revealing an enormous pit filled with iron spikes. Charlie felt the floor falling beneath his feet. He thrust himself forward to the open corridor but he did not make it. Instead he found himself hanging from the edges of what remained of the flooring. He stared down into a pit of iron spikes.

Lexi West and Sampson caught their breath, and then realized Charlie was not with them.

"Hey Guys, if you could give me a hand here!" he shouted through the corridor " I'm literally living on the edge!"

Charlie wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself there, the pain in his fingertips was overwhelming, gravity was taking a toll.